last week

My project has been a lot of fun. I have learned a lot of great things and met a lot of great people. Last Friday I cooked a dinner for some people (Kerrin, Katelyn, and Aden). I made salad with homemade italian dressing, lasagna with garlic bread, and brownies. Everything turned out pretty good, everyone enjoyed the food, so overall it was a success. These last few days I have just been working on my final report and presentation, and also looking for a nice card to send to ICASI as a thanks for letting do my project there and for the really nice apron they gave me. These past 4 weeks have been a lot of fun and its been great to read all of your blog posts and see how all of you are doing. Good luck with the rest of your project!

Drive Home

Wednesday, due to a series of unfortunate and unforeseen events, was dedicated to driving home. Beyond escaping the hell on asphalt that is DC-area traffic, the drive was not too terrible. If nothing else, I’ve mastered highway driving, including the useful skills of getting within arms length of the toll booth and setting the cruise-control. The ride also provided a convenient opportunity to map out the remaining week of project. In talking amongst ourselves and with Mr. Breisch we came to an agreement that we would continue with the plan of putting together a guidebook with an Ohio girl’s perspective. Other than that the drive was rather uneventful and we clearly made it home safe and sound ready to unpack an endless sea of bags. 

Forgot About Friday

On Friday we received a dump truck load full of wood chips in the early morning.  Then Mr. Thoams and his advisory came and spread it over the cardboard that we had laid down.  The garden looks great now.  In the afternoon, Stuart had the sweet vision to begin constructing a concrete patio out of reclaimed wall from the greenhouse in the woods.  Pretty creative huh? Today we will finally get around to those tomato stakes and we will raise the beds with some dirt from Coach Wilson's parents that he dug up to plant pumpkins.  In hive news, I checked the bees on Saturday and it was pretty scary.  I reached down into the hive to retrieve the queen cage and I dug her out of it.  Now i'll let them be for a month before I check up on them again.

Have an enjoyable last couple days of project!

Liam

National Portrait Gallery/Chinatown

            Last Monday I had the pleasure of exploring the National Portrait Gallery and Chinatown – two places that will be included in our guidebook. Unfortunately by starting in the early America wing and was inundated in portraits of old white colonists which tired my museum tolerance, but before departing I enjoyed some wonderful impressionist pieces and a fun gallery of celebrities from the 30’s and 40’s. The featured temporary exhibit, a combination of different Asian-American artists was even furthur from the traditional portraits. The mélange of videos (of a woman performing strange tasks endlessly), photos (full body shots of the artist in different outfits), and paintings (of hair), were outside the box were compelling if not relatable or traditionally beautiful.

            The remainder of the day was devoted to Chinatown; the enclave of Asian culture located a few blocks from the museum. Trying to be adventurous we chose Burma, a Burmese restaurant, for lunch. The good news is that one dish was fantastic, and the bad was that other was on the grosser side of bland. Fueled by our exotic lunch we visited every souvenir shop we could find and succeeded in staying on our feet while confronting the terrible smells of each shop. 

Tragedy Strikes Farm

Just when we thought everything was perfect except for the absence of tomato stakes, a raccoon eats all eleven of our chickens. But setbacks are only opportunities for comebacks.  We've lived and learned.

RIP Chick-a-dees

Newsroom tour (last wednesday)

Sorry for the late update everyone. My life is still busy with senior project and other surprise events. Here is an account of last Wednesday.

I had the wonderful opportunity to tour a local news station. My project sponsor took me to Channel 3 Studio, which has a reputation for being one of the nicest looking studios in the nation. The building is situated right on the lake. It is not very tall or imposing as I thought it would be. Nevertheless, it looked spotless. After passing a security desk, I came into a large room filled with people working at computers. They were putting together the 7:00PM show. My project sponsor is well known in the industry, so she was going up to countless people to say hi and to introduce me to old contacts. Once we were done touring the production room, we got to watch a live newscast inside the studio room. The room is actually an elaborate set built into one side of the production space. The pacing felt much slower than watching it on tv. There was no dramatic music and no rapid layovers and cuts. The newscasters said their lines in between yells from a person following the production schedule. I chuckled quietly at one point as I watched some of the crew making strange faces while one of the newscasters was doing a story on some disgusting topic. I will post photos from the event in a little bit.

Jump Roping

 

I’ve always thought I hated jump roping.  Because I’m a runner I never felt the need to find another source of cardio workout.  But here at the Kuk Sul Do academy jump roping is standard fare.  It is not only a common boxing workout but Jason and his wife Kim love to use it in their morning fitness classes.  In these fitness classes they give the option to air rope instead of using an actually jump rope and I always took that out.  But one day Kim explained to Eve and I that jump roping is one of the best all body exercises as well the fact that it compliments plyo drills and isometric holds to make a more effective workout.  In addition it is always an extremely efficient cardio workout as 20 minutes of jump roping equates to approximately an hour of running.  So the next day at the morning fitness class, I used the jump rope when they told me to and found that I actually enjoyed it! I haven’t jump roped since I was a little kid but I found that I still know how and only miss a beat every once in a while.  It is also more manageable than I thought it would be, I didn’t keel over of exhaustion after two minutes and I felt great after.  I would say I am officially a fan of jump roping. 

Post 11 – Ideas

I figured I would use this post to show you one of the actual products of my talking with the homeless – my list of compiled ideas with shortened descriptions for the post and added comments for your reading pleasure.

·         Carpentry – Making chairs/tables for 2100 then surrounding area.

·         Pictures – Have the residents of 2100 take pictures of their daily experiences with disposable cameras and have the photos developed and sold.

·         Construction – Many of the residents at 2100 have experience in construction (dry wall, welding, carpentry, etc).

·         Restoration – There is an overabundance of foreclosed or vacant homes in Cleveland that are falling into disrepair.  At the shelter, there is an overabundance of laborers and skilled laborers in terms of house repair and restoration.  Obviously this could be a great fit.

·         Labor Co-op – The sharing of skilled labor.  People in the shelter and people in low income housing often have problems that they cannot fix, but others can.  This is where the skills survey would come in handy.

·         Barter System – People struggling for money could take household items that they no longer need and take them to a warehouse or submit it to a network of places and barter for what he or she needs.

·         Advertising – Easy labor that the men in 2100 could do part time for some extra cash is deliver flyers in select communities to advertise for various companies in that area. This could be facilitated by the bike sharing idea.

·         Bike Sharing/Renting Program – A cheap way to get around, bike sharing/renting can make biking even cheaper by allowing residents to bike to work or wherever they need to go.  Good pair to the bike rack initiative.

·         Lock/Locker System – At the Shelter, people are worried with a constant fear that their phone or phone charger will be stolen if they leave it unattended.  One idea that was proposed was to create a locker system with electrical outlets inside to charge electronics and provide a safe place for valuables since not all communities within the shelter have lockers.

Post 10 – Sending out the Survey

We are going to send out the survey soon and give it to the various communities at the shelter. (Communities are assorted living spaces in the shelter, each one with its own set of guidelines).  We have refined it a good amount from what it originally was and now it is no longer just a survey for skill in the shelter but a way to brainstorm ideas for new social enterprises, a way to get updates on the job status of the residents, and a way to get more detailed information about non-sensitive information about the residents’ history like the extent of their education.  We are still awaiting final revisions and the okay to distribute it, but once that is done, I will record the results, quantify them, and pair them with the ideas to make a detailed proposal about which ideas for social enterprises may be best for LMM and the residents.  I will try to post a copy of the questionnaire on the blog but if I can’t find a way I will put it in my PowerPoint during the final presentation.  It is a big step for the shelter and should yield some great results.

Moving forward with boxing

 

We’ve been doing some new boxing drills recently.  At the beginning we normally would practice combinations and movement drills with our sponsor holding punching pads, and then go into live sparring.  A couple of days ago instead of starting with drills we did cardio and technique work on the punching bags.  It was very physically challenging as the bags are heavy and so make you work harder than punching the air of mitts.  It also gave us a good feel for a type of workout a boxing trainer would make their client do (one that incorporates both fitness and technique).  Then today, we simulated an amateur golden gloves match with our sponsor.  These matches included three, two-minute rounds with 45-second rest in between each round.  This was even more of a cardio workout than punching on the bags.  When you are focused on getting as many punches on your opponent as possible you tire out quickly.  Our sponsor kept reminding us that although it is not an obvious obstacle, you have to make sure to pace yourself throughout a match.  By doing these longer rounds Eve and I found out which punches we felt most comfortable with and so used the most.  I like to throw lots of jabs and then come in hard with the straight right, while Eve likes to come in with hooks when her opponent leaves the side of their face open. 

Stealth Photography

This week has been fantastically busy, so I have a lot of fun updates for the blog. First, let me walk you through Monday and Tuesday, which were "stealth photography" days in a mall that does not allow photography.

Stealth photography is the art of taking pictures without anyone noticing you. There are a couple different ways of secretly photographing people or places. My favorite was developed by the guy on the left. His name is Henri Carti-Bresson, and he is considered to be one of the best street photographers to have ever lived. His technique call for a quick shooting camera (SLR or rangefinder) that has a wide angle lens. Using this camera, the photographer sets the focus at a set distance and uses a narrow aperture to keep as much of the frame in focus. The final piece is to shoot from the hip. This technique is a bit hit and miss, since the photographer can get the focus and framing wrong. The small aperture also requires a slower shutter speed, so the risk of motion blur is higher.

I tend to use a modified version of this technique. Modern cameras are faster than the ones that Bresson used. The invention of auto focus eliminates the need to pre-focus. Sensor improvements also make motion blur a thing of the past.

Unfortunately, I had to go super stealthy on Monday and Tuesday. Mall security has an eye for big cameras. I decided to avoid unwanted attention by using my cellphone camera, which is not that easy to use. My iPhone has a decent 8MP sensor, but it does not compare to the 21MP 35mm sensor that my MKII uses. There is a slight lag between pressing the picture button and the phone actually taking a picture. Finally, the shutter timing on the phone is slow enough to cause motion blur. I had to stand incredibly still in the mall interior while photographing. It sort of felt like photographing with the old style bellows cameras.

The iphone does have its benefits, namely that pretty much everyone in the mall uses camera phones to text. I was unnoticeable.

Bzzzzzz

BEES ARE HERE!

I picked them up at Gates Mills Post Office this morning and installed them in the hive not long after.  With the help of my beekeeper contact from Cleveland Hts., Stan Hockey, we successfully introduced the colony to their new hive.  It was a relatively simple and extremely thrilling process.  We didn't wear any protective wear and nobody got stung.  That goes to show that honey bees aren't aggressive and only sting in response to quick, threatening movements.  After that we started planting in the rest of the beds.  It's a rewarding effort.  This afternoon we will finish that before the middle school students stop by tomorrow.  On Saturday I will check up on the bees before letting them do their thing for a month without interference.  Nate has the cedar coming today to make the three other raised beds.  Cedar has oils that naturally repel pests. 

Until Next Time,

Beekeeper Liam

Very Pleased!

The Farm is looking awesome!

We have spread two pick up trucks full of compost to use as a topsoil that's rich in nutrients.  Stu and Nate installed a super fly trickle irrigation system throughout the garden in about an hour.  This will save tons of water. This morning I will be picking up my bees at the Gates Mills Post Office.  We will install them Thursday morning into the hive that I decorated with the Hawken logo and a pair of giant bees yesterday with the help of Ms. Buckley.  Hopefully sometime today we will receive a dumptruck full of some woodchips to lay down on the cardboard that we have created our paths borders with.  This is to keep the weeds down.  Hopefully in the next couple of days we can buy cedar and make three mroe raised beds to bring the total to four.  That's the vision.  Also, we're excited to be joined by Mr. Thomas and a group of eighth graders on Friday who will be working on a project yet to be determined for us. 

Have a splendid week!

A little about the morning workout classes

 

The morning Yopilado fitness classes we go to were started by our mentor, Jason, in order to help his mother get into better physical shape.  Jason was worried about her health and wanted to find a way to help her and the community lead a healthier lifestyle.  With this in mind, he created the Yopilado class, a more accessible total body workout.   In this class Jason really focuses on strengthening every muscle in the body and he does so with plyometrics and use of ones own body weight.  Jason uses light weights as opposed to heavier lifting that many athletes and body builders are accustomed to.  His goal is to make this a class that can be accomplished by any member of the community after some hard work and dedication.  Each class Jason comes up with new exercises and switches the sequences in order to, in his words, “keep it fresh.”  Jason also makes sure to switch up his music and creates new workout playlists for the class each day. Jason is enthusiastic behind comprehension.  Every class he comes in with a positive attitude, ready to work out and motivate everyone around him.  In addition Jason does all the exercises with the class, enhancing the experience.  

Post 9 – Questionnaire

Today I developed a more formal way to survey the residents in 2100.  I wrote out a skills survey to better judge the number of skilled laborers who are homeless and currently spend their nights in the shelter.  Whether it be skills acquired through general life or trade skills acquired through years working on a job, the questionnaire asks the residents about their talents with woodworking, electric maintenance, plumbing, car maintenance, metal work, lawn maintenance/landscaping, farming, and various other things, including a space for any skill that they have that is not listed.  In addition, this questionnaire will help me in the search for ideas for new social enterprises because those who fill out the form can provide their insight into ways that would utilize the skills in the shelter while making money for the Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry (the organization that runs the shelter and with which I formally work) and for the residents.  In this way the residents can get out of the shelter and into transitional housing faster while gaining valuable job readiness skills needed for sustainable jobs and critical for the re-entry population at the shelter.  So while the questionnaire isn’t revolutionary, it certainly facilitates the process for surveying the skills in the shelter and what social enterprise ideas would be most relevant to that population.

Post 8 – Happier Times

If you read my previous posts, one of the smaller aspects of my project is mapping locations of bike racks for the city of Cleveland so they know where to put the ones they recently bought.  To do that, during periods of down time not at the shelter, I used Google Earth street view and “drove” down various important streets (Euclid Avenue had the most by a wide margin).  However, when technology failed on Friday, which was already slow, I decided to extend my lunch break into a driving tour around Cleveland marking locations of bike racks as I drove the city streets.  On my drive I found few bike racks, but many impoverished neighborhoods with derelict brick buildings at the corners of once popular streets advertising for beer and the lottery and occasional multi-story apartment buildings.  Adjacent to the apartment buildings are large vacant lots that appear to have once been the location of similar buildings, but have since been torn down due to lack of upkeep and demand for such housing.  Go three blocks away from the miniature (ie Cleveland sized) skyscrapers and one will inevitably encounter such an atmosphere of neglect that has caused the area to fall into disrepair since Cleveland’s demise.  The only nice buildings that line the streets are old, ornate churches and places of worship that are now abandoned, but provide constant reminders of happier times.  Upon leaving the forgotten, once-populous streets, you are left with a sense of nostalgia for the Cleveland that nearly doubled its population in ten years before the great depression or even the Cleveland that provided greatly to the war effort during WWII.  Since my project is about homelessness, I figured this analysis of the city-streets detailed a similar tragic demise of many of the homeless men in the shelter.

Solo Monday

Monday was my first day preparing for my big dinner on Thursday. Because I want my meal to be as fresh as possible, I have decided to purchase my ingredients the day of the meal. But I made a list of everything that I needed, and I pulled out a few boxes in which I put every cooking tool I needed into them. I also cooked something different, a weird variation on lasagna. It was a penne pasta lasagna, except the penne pastas were placed in a circular dish standing up. Then I poured the meat sauce into each pasta, then put a layer of ricotta cheese, then meat sauce, then mozzarella and parmesan cheese on top. My mom found this recipe for me and it was very interesting, fun, and simple to make.


Heres the recipe and instructions (taken from Martha Stewart):

Pasta Pie

Adapted from Martha Stewart

1 pound rigatoni

2 Tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 pound ground beef (I used ground sirloin)

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 can (28 ounces) good quality crushed tomatoes

Butter, for pan

1 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

8 ounces coarsely grated mozzarella

In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook pasta until slightly underdone (I cooked mine for 12 minutes when the box indicated 14 minutes).  One pound of pasta should be cooked in 6 quarts of water, make sure you are using a big enough pot so the pasta doesn't stick together.  When done, rinse in cold water and drain again.  Toss pasta with 1 Tablespoon olive oil to coat.  Set aside.

Heat remaining 1 Tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add ground beef.  Cook, stirring occasionally until browned.  Add garlic, 1 teaspoon salt and pepper.  Cook 2 minutes more.

Add crushed tomatoes; simmer until thickened, about 20 minutes.

Toss pasta with Parmesan cheese.  Butter a 9-inch springform pan.  Tightly pack pasta into pan, standing each piece on end.  Spread meat sauce on top of pasta.

Push the meat sauce into the pasta holes filling each one up.  Stuffing the meat into the holes is a weirdly satisfying task.  Enough said.

Place in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes.  Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top and bake another 10-15 minutes until cheese is golden.  Remove from oven and let stand for 15 minutes.  Run a knife around the edge to loosen and then unmold. 

Cut into wedges and serve with any remaining meat sauce you might have.

Planting in the Farm

Heading into the last week of project we will be planting in the garden.  Today Coach Wilson went out and filled his pick up with some wholesome manure-sawdust compost.  This morning we spread it atop all of the beds in preparation of the planting that will take place this afternoon.  Hopefully by the end of the week we will have installed a trickle irrigation system to conserve loads of water.  While water is plentiful here and we don't have much ground to water, we are going to invest in this form of micro irrigation because we want to produce a small scale picture of sustainability.  Tomorrow we are receiving 8 cubic yards of woodchips to throw down on our cardboard walkways within the garden.  This will keep the weeds down.  Later this week Nate can go buy some Cedar and throw together three more raised bed.  My bees are being shipped today!  The Cleveland Arts intensive is currently working to make the hive prettier.  Tonight i'm going to have to make their syrup that I will feed them with.  I'll dissolve 2.5 lbs of sugar into 3 pints of water. 

Have a great last week of project everyone,

Take Care,

Liam

Chess: Tournament Galore

After 29. Nc5

Game 7 of the World Chess Championship didn't end in a draw! Yay! And it was actually the underdog (Gelfand) who won (over Anand), which makes this series intense finally. The key points in this game was shutting down pieces so that they had no safe places to go. As you can see from the diagram, Black's bishop has no where safe to play. Even worse, the bishop is very useless- it's being blocked by its own pawns. It also ended with a forced mate with a rook and two knights, not something you see everyday (actually, first time I've seen it in a non-chess puzzle fashion).

There was also a local chess tournament today. The way that this chess tournament was that there were four sections. There was the Novice section for kids from K-6 who have no official USCF United States Chess Federation) rating, the Reserve section for kids from K-8 rated under 850, the Premier section for anyone rated under 1250, and the Championship section for anyone above 1200 (chess ratings follow an elo system, where one gains rating by winning and lose rating by losing; for some reference, most of Hawken would be under 1100, I'm rated ~1500 officially, a national master is rated 2200, the highest rated player currently is rated 2835). Most importantly, it was G/30, meaning each player has 30 minutes to play (with 5 second delay)- which sucks for players like me who like to spend way more time that we should on moves. I didn't end up playing because it was a Super Cup where basically there are multiple of these tournaments during the season, and the results are cumulative throughout. It was still interesting nonetheless. There is a tournament on Saturday that I will probably attend though, if only to see how much I have improved after senior project.

Week at Lifetime

Hello everyone.  So this last week me Sami and Gries have gone to lifetime, and I must say, it is very different from the J.  We did pretty much the same thing on a daily basis that we did at the J (i.e. use a bunch of different equipment, different facilities, etc.).  Our week got off to an exciting start when we walked in Tuesday (AP tests on monday) and saw the Kentucky basketball player who will be the number 2 pick in the draft, Michael Kidd-Gilchrest at liftime playing some basketball and training with a trainer.  We were gonna play some ball with him, but didnt really want to embarrass him too badly, so we figured we'd spare him the embarrassment.  But we did end up getting his autograph, and then when we left, we went to the Robeks at Harvard Park, and he happened to be there as well, and we took some stalker pictures of him and tweeted about him, it was very exciting.  That is kind of besides the point of the project but it was very cool none the less.  One last comment about him, he rolled deep (or heavy as sami would say, meaning that he had a posse of about 8 different people, all of whom were very large and good at basketball.  One of them was 6'10'' and played division 1 center at some school I cannot remember, but was incredible at basketball).

Question guidelines

I just remembered that I told you how we would be evaluating the fitness centers, so here it is.

Also please note, that while these are geared towards the J, if you change the JCC to Life Time in any of the questions, it works the same.

For each question, respond with Strongly Agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree, or Strongly Disagree

Customer Service

1. Staff members are generally friendly.
2. Staff members are likely to say hello to you.
3. Staff are willing to help.
4. Staff are knowledgeable in their field.
5. Staff seem happy to be at their job.
6. Staff assisted in resolving problems.
7. Staff members are always courteous. 
8. The staff responded to calls and emails in a timely fashion.
9. Staff go out of their way to help you out even if you don’t ask for help.
10. Staff always seem to be keeping themselves busy

Quality of Classes

1. The JCC offers a wide variety of classes.
2. They offer classes that appeal to a wide variety of people.
3. The classes are well attended.
4. The instructors are engaging.
5. The instructors help out people who are clearly struggling.
6. People in the class are friendly.
7. People feel comfortable in the environment of the class.
8. Classes are offered throughout the entire day so anyone who wants to go to a class can.
9. The classes are challenging.
10. Classes are generally free.

Quality of Equipment

1. There are an adequate amount of machines for…
1. Shoulders
2. Chest
3. Abs
4. Biceps
5. Triceps
6. Legs
7. Back
8. Lower back
9. Obliques
2. The equipment is comfortable.
3. Equipment is clean.
4. The equipment is modern/top of the line.
5. There is rarely a wait for the machines.
6. Broken equipment is fixed in a timely fashion.
7. There are an adequate amount of cardio machines…
1. Treadmills
2. Bikes
3. Ellipticals
4. Stairmasters
5. Other (specialized equipment)
8. There are an adequate amount of free weights.
9. There are plenty of benches.
10. The equipment is user friendly.

Quality of Trainers

1. Trainers are knowledgeable.
2. The trainers are engaging.
3. Trainers are courteous to all members.
4. Trainers are usually with a client.
5. Trainers are professional
6. Trainers present themselves well.
7. Trainers are in shape.
8. Trainers clean up after their clients.
9. Trainers are supportive and encouraging.
10. There are always many trainers on the floor.

Facilities

1. All facilities available to use.
2. Facilities are clean.
3. Are supplies readily available (i.e. basketballs, pool floats, etc.).
4. The locker room provides everything member could need (i.e. towels, showers, etc.)
5. The facilities are always functional.
6. Hours service every client.
7. There is a sufficient number of TVs.
8. There is an adequate amount of free space for activities (such as stretching, abs, etc.).
9. Lighting is appropriate.
10. The layout is convenient.

Final Newseum Day

Friday was my final shift at the Newseum. I was entrusted for the first, and consequently last, time with a radio as I was the only visitor services personel on the fourth floor. Although the fourth floor houses the First Amendment Gallery and Tim Russert’s  office in addition to the 9/11 gallery, 9/11 draws the bulk of the visitors, so that’s where I spent the bulk of my shift. There’s an odd inclination amongst visitors to pose in front of the broadcast tower for pictures when in the gallery. It is not taking pictures that is odd, the wreckage is striking, but it is that they stand and smile for the pictures. While the antenna has varying depths of meaning for everyone, it is hard to imagine how a picture of your loved ones beaming at you in front of such a sad monument could be construed as a positive souvenir.

In the afternoon I was posted on the sixth floor. Because there were two employees also on the sixth floor I had to return my radio. I was not sad to see it go, I could hardly understand the garbled transmissions and I was nervous that I would miss anything directed as me. In the usual way of things at the Newseum, visitors came in waves, unloading from the massive elevators to work there way down the building. It was a fairly busy afternoon interspersed with enough gaps that I found myself with plenty of time to check out the view from the terrace and chat with my coworkers. And thus my time at the Newseum came to a close. While it was largely boring and exhausting I did learn some interesting things from both the exhibits and the experience. 

Friday

Friday was my last day at ICASI, and it was a lot of fun. First, I helped Chef Tim set up for his 8 hour BBQ boot camp that he held on Saturday. We cleaned the grills, moved stuff around, set up a tent, and made sure everything was ready for the event. After we were done with that, Chef Stefanie needed me to bake a cake for a charity event. She gave me the recipe for a pineapple and ginger cake with a cream cheese frosting. I gathered the ingredients, went through step by step and made the cake. It looked really good but I didn't get to try any, but she gave me the recipe so I could make it again, and I want to share it with you guys.
Here it is:

• Cake Ingredients
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 cups AP flour
• 1 20 oz. can crushed pineapple with liquid
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
• Directions
• preheat oven to 350 degrees F
• Prepare two 8x2 baking pans, put parchment paper on the bottom of the pan, grease with cooking spray
• cream together sugar and eggs. add vanilla and pineapple with juice.
• "cream" means to put the sugar and eggs in a mixer (with a whisk) and mix them together, then add other ingredients
• in a bowl mix together flour, baking soda, salt, and ginger
• Add flour mixture to egg mixture until incorporated. Don't overmix
• Pour batter into pans
• Bake until golden brown and spongy firmness in center, approx. 30-40 mins. allow 30 mins to cool
• Spread frosting only after cake has cooled. Put decorated cake in fridge, serve cold.
• Ginger Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients
• 2 8oz. package cream cheese, softened
• 8 oz. unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar (use more if needed)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• Whip ingredients together until desired frosting consistency is reached. 

Finally recived permission to photograph

                I finally got permission form he most important mall that was holding out on me, so I spent the last few days photographing it. Nick Hajeck had some time off his project, and he used to go to Euclid Square Mall when it was still operational, so he got the chance to explain a bit of history and tell me what some of the abandoned buildings used to be. Apparently, one of the restaurant-like buildings used to be a Chinese buffet until it became a red lobster. Some people apparently loved that Red lobster, so they drew "Bring Back Red Lobster!!" repeatedly in the dust on the windows. We also found an abandoned ATM that had "OutlawD" spray-painted over a window. I was definitely glad that he was not there to greet us.

                Unlike the last time that I went to Euclid, the parking lots were close to empty. Dillards had a few customers, but the biggest difference was that there was no one walking around the mall. The solitude gave me more flexibility to work with the exterior. The biggest problem I was having was photographing a large panoramic of the parking lot without having too many cars obscuring the building. Euclid Square mall is primarily a one-story structure, so cars tend to block important details.